Jazz 2023-24 Schedule: Top Games, Championship Odds and Record Predictions

The Utah Jazz have an interesting outlook for the 2023-24 season.

2022-23 was supposed to be a full-on rebuilding year following the departures of Donovan Mitchell, Rudy Gobert and Bojan Bogdanović before the season, and while the team did not qualify for the playoffs, a 37-45 finish was respectable.

The team saw solid play from Lauri Markkanen, Jordan Clarkson and Collin Sexton, and have a wide range of predictions that include playoff contender and taking a step back.

John Collins was a big offseason addition, as the Jazz acquired him for Rudy Gay and a second-round pick in June. The team also used the No. 9 pick in the NBA Draft to select Taylor Hendricks.

Hendricks averaged 15.1 points and seven rebounds in 34 games for UCF in 2022-23, and could be a huge addition to this team.

The midseason departure of Mike Conley last season hurts the team's depth at the guard position, but numerous players, including Collin Sexton and Kris Dunn, could help solidify the play alongside Clarkson.

2022-23 Jazz Schedule Details

Season Opener: vs. Sacramento Kings on Oct. 25 at 9 p.m. ET

Championship Odds: +2,500 (bet $100 to win $2,500), per FanDuel

Full Schedule: The full schedule is available on NBA.com.

Top Matchups

Minnesota Timberwolves

Marquee matchups for the Jazz will still be when old faces return to town, and Minnesota is full of them. Gobert and Conley were All-Stars in their time in Utah.

It also helps that these two are division rivals and in similar positions. Minnesota did qualify for the postseason in 22-23, but were no match for the eventual champion Denver Nuggets in the opening round. The Gobert trade has not aged as well as the Minnesota brass may have hoped, and the team is faced with finding a direction going forward.

Cleveland Cavaliers

While it may be out of conference, every time Donovan Mitchell faces off against his former team will be significant.

Mitchell earned three All-Star nods in Salt Lake City and helped the team be a consistent presence in the playoffs. Still, the Jazz struggled to live up to promising seasons, and made the decision to blow it up and proceed with a new group.

Sexton was a top-10 pick for Cleveland just five years ago, and Markkanen's rise will help both players have chips on their shoulders as they look for revenge against their old team.

Season Forecast

This season will be important for determining the future direction of this team. The Jazz probably don't have the right talent to make a run for a championship, but this group could easily earn a spot in the play-in tournament.

Markkanen's breakout 2022-23 projects well for the future, and if he can follow it up in 23-24, his $17 million cap hit for this season looks like an absolute steal.

However, being in a division with the Nuggets is tough, and the Jazz may not have as much going for them as division rivals Oklahoma City and Minnesota do. If they take a step forward, they could surpass those teams and flip the script, but more losses could also be in the works if those team's show significant improvement.

With many players needing to show their stuff this season, a lot of questions will be answered by the play on the court this season.